Q –
Angela,
Another author published a book in 2015 that has the exactly same title as my book, which was published in 2010. Both books are love stories about interracial couples but the synopses are different.
Can I sue that author?
Can another author use the exact same title as another book that’s already for sale?
A –
Book titles can’t be copyrighted. In fact, there are thousands of books on Amazon that have titles identical to other books on Amazon.
There are also numerous books (likely thousands) on Amazon about interracial couples.
Please see:
Think Someone Copied Your Book? You Might Be Wrong… – by Harvey Randall, Esq.
And:
Help! My Book Title Has Already Been Used!
Where you can get into trouble is if you include a trademarked term in your book’s title. You can search registered trademarks in the U.S. RIGHT HERE.
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You cannot copyright a title. Truth. For instance there are three books entitled “Spindrift” — the Jan Bryant Bartell book (1970s) is out of print and I think one of the other two may be a novel.
Even something like “Gone With the Wind?” Can I really give that title to my novel about a bunch of old guys who like Bourbon and spend all their time talking about how good they used to be?
You can if the title isn’t trademarked. But, it probably is because they made a movie out of it. 😉
Angela
any fool can sue anybody for anything in the usa. but you would lose big time because book titles are fair game and anybody can use any title they choose since you cannot copyright them. now if you could have trademarked something in the title then you would have a case: EG the kleenex® killer by kimberly clarke.